Finished reading: Hearty Masculinity: Of Body and Spirit by Chris Halverson 📚
If your first reaction to a book written for men about masculinity is an eye roll or worse, I’d urge you to look at Hearty Masculinity, which brings together a constellation of tools, both conceptual and practical, to address masculinity in our time – especially distinct from the unhealthy directions offered by the “manosphere” and shallow influencer types. This is a different kind of book, though still taking seriously the yearnings of men in a surprisingly candid way.
Split in two, its first half can be read by anyone as a secular argument for holistic mental, physical, and social health. The argument gains direction and depth in the second, explicitly spiritual half. Many guys may recognize the traps revealed; in particular, the tendency towards stolen valor and ‘performative masculinity’ as a vocational crisis is insightful.
Disclosure: Chris is a good friend of mine.